Rivers of Blood
by Joy Netsrik
Summary: Naruto has given up hope. This time the knife bit into his wrist deeper then ever then ever before. Now he has a decision to make. Possible character death. Rated M just in case. sasunaru fluff, narusasu sasukexnaruto narutoxsasue
1. Paint It Black

Welcome to my first story! I'm very glad you're here! bow Let's see, what do I need to do? Oh, right.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, he'd be in my bedroom right now. Kakashi: _WHACK!_ Sorry, I mean Kakashi-sensei would be in my room right now! Kakashi:_That's better._

__

Warning: This story may contain some yaoi fluff later. Considering this is my first official fanfic, I don't have the guts to make it too smutty.

Kakashi:Aw, why not?

QUIET YOU PERV!

Kakashi: Is that any way to speak to your sensei?

It is when my sensei _is_ a perv.

Anyway, this story also contains angst, and might be SasuNaru. Also might have character death. Depends on how much you review and vote. (hint)

This story is _not_ for the faint of heart.

I think that's it. Enjoy!

8-8-88-8-8-8-88-

_Naruto POV_

The blood flows freely down my wrists. It glistens as it falls to the floor drop by drop.

Damnit! The wound is healing too quickly! Leave me alone Kyuubi!

I pick up my blade and slash my wrist again. A new river forms. A river that carries away the pain, and the ache, and the nothingness. Perhaps I should let it carry me away too. Yes, that's it. I'll float away on this river of my own creation. I'll be doing them a favor. None of them has the guts to get rid of the "demon boy" themselves.

I reach for the knife and cut myself again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

The blood is running more sluggishly now. Kyuubi can't keep up. Good. Meddling old fox. Now I can have peace at last.

Peace…

The world fades to black.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-88-8-8-

_Sasuke POV_

Something's wrong.

I can feel it in my bones, something's wrong.

The dobe's not here yet. Even _Kakashi-sensei ­_is here now. Naruto is usually here before _I_ am, let alone before Kakashi is here!

Maybe the dobe stayed up too late training. Yeah, that has to be it.

"Hey," I say. "Let's go check on his apartment. The lazybutt is probably still asleep."

Kakashi puts down his fine piece of literature coughporncough and stands up. "That is a very good and sensible idea," he says.

"Yeah," Sakura agrees, cracking her knuckles. "I'd _love_ to help the idiot wake up."

We fly across the rooftops and arrive at Naruto's apartment in less then a minute. Not exactly the classiest place in Konoha, but at least it's a place to sleep, I guess.

"Naruto?" Kakashi yells and bangs on the door. "Wake up! You're late!"

No answer.

"That's it" Sakura growls. With a force that makes even me shiver, she broke down the door using a killer kick.

"Naruto?" Kakashi calls. "We're coming in!"

The living room is quiet. Nothing special in the bedroom or bathroom. But the kitchen… Oh God, what is in the kitchen.

A sea of blood greets us. The dobe lies curled in the middle. Naruto's signature orange jumpsuit is now a sickening rust color. His sunshine hair is dyed a disgusting strawberry. In his hand is a knife. Oh, God!

"Stay here!" Kakashi ordered. "I'm going to get Tsunade!"

Stay here. As though I could move if I wanted to. Sakura is kneeling and puking. I don't blame her. Please hurry Kakashi.

Don't you dare die on me, Dobe.

8-8-8-88-8-8-8-8-88-8-8

Sorry it's kind of short. Please review!


	2. Golden

_Hi, It's me. I'm very sorry that I haven't updated in so long! (insert long list of excuses here) I truly am very sorry. I'm also sorry that the last chapter was all in italics! It happened because I am html illiterate. Although, the first chapter was sort of an introduction, so it works. Anyway, I've been working hard on these next few chapters, which I will try to post in rapid succession. Again, many thanks for your patience._

_Now let's see..._

**Disclaimer: **Now, would I really be writing fanfic if I owned the darn thing? Answer: probably yes, but that's beside the point.

**Warnings:** Swearing, OOCness, Possible Character Death. I'm writing it, so that should be warning enough.

_-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-_

The reek of disinfectant is everywhere. The walls of the little room are shockingly white. The floor is white, the curtains are white, the single chair beside the bed is white, the bed itself is white, and the sheets are white. The boy who occupied the bed was also white. That sort of white that's unnatural, scary. It was as though all the blood had been drained from him, and perhaps it had. He was breathing shallowly. His blond hair was unusually neat. He looked peaceful and quiet. A tall blond woman stood beside his bed, just staring at him.

"Oh, Naruto," Tsunade sighed. "Why? Why, you brat? Didn't you think anyone would care? Did you think at all? Come back to us, brat. We miss you. We need you."

As Tsunade turned away, a lone tear slid down her cheek. She didn't brush is away.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

Naruto was in a place unlike he had ever seen before. It was a dense forest, not unlike the forests outside Konoha. That was normal. The odd thing was that between two of the massive trees was suspended a gate. It was a gate made of what appeared to be solid gold. On it was carved many intricate pictures. There was a pair of ninjas engaged in battle. In the bottom corner was a depiction of sakura blossoms, so real looking that one could almost smell them. There was even the nine tailed fox demon, Kyuubi, it all it's wrathful glory. As he stood before this splendor, Naruto could only think of one thing to say.

"How the hell did I get here?" Naruto shouted. He sat down on a rock to think. Surprising as it may seem, when Naruto took the time to think, he could be quite brilliant. "Okay, lets see," Naruto said aloud. "I'd gone out to get my breakfast. The shopkeeper charged me double of what it should have cost. I didn't say anything. I was walking home with my groceries, when I got hit in the back of the head with that rock. Again, not unusual. Those guys jumped me. Wrecked my breakfast and got me pretty good. I fought back though. Hope they're really feeling it, bastards. Then I just went home to get cleaned up after training. Then..."

Naruto pulled back his sleeves and saw the scars on his wrists. There were many smaller, thin ones, but two stood out. They where fresh, red, and long. The scars were obviously deep. Naruto looked from his wrists to the gate, and back to his wrists.

"So," Naruto whispered. "I guess... I finally did it. I died."

"Not quite," a voice overhead said.

Naruto sprang to his feet and wildly searched the trees with his eyes, trying to locate the source of the sound. It did not take him long to find it. In the tree he had been sitting under was a girl. At least, he _thought _it was a girl. She had long silver hair that swept down her back. Her grayish green eyes gave the impression that she knew much more then she was letting on. The most striking feature about her however was the large pair of silver wings that grew from her back.

The creature gracefully glided down from the tree and landed before the baffled Naruto.

"You, Uzumaki Naruto, are about to make the most important decision of your life."

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-

See you next chapter! Love and Peace!


	3. Someday You Will Be Loved

_Hello once again my ever patient reader. bows low I apologize once agin for being a terrible updater. All I can say is that there's nothing like college to kill what little time you have to write fanfic. I also an sorry that this chapter is short. I'll say a little more after the story is done. Btw, if you are wondering where the chapter titles come from, I set my iTunes to shuffle and tada! Instant title!_

**Disclaimer: **_Why yes, I do own Naruto_._ I also invented sliced bread and bet Chuck Norris in a poker game. (Feel the sarcasm.)_

**Key: (I think you'd figure it out, but just to be safe...)**

**'Kyuubi'**

'thinking'

"speaking"

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"What the hell?!" Naruto shrieked. He jumped backward and jabbed a finger at the winged creature. "Who the hell are you? _What_ the hell are you? Where am I? What's going on? What do you mean 'not quite?'"

The girl sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration. Glaring slightly at Naruto, she snarled, "If you'll sit down and _shut up_ I'll tell you."

Naruto gave a nervous gulp and sat back down on his rock.

"That's better." The girl settled herself on the ground. "First off, I am Remeal. I have the fortune, or misfortune, of being your guardian angel. We are at the gates of death in the forest of truth. As to what's going on... That's where things get complicated."

"Complicated," Naruto muttered. "I'm sitting outside the gates of death talking to my guardian angel and things aren't even complicated yet."

'**You have no idea.'**

'Kyuubi? What are you doing here?'

'**Well, let's see brat. I was sealed in your stomach. My chakra is your chakra. My life force is inseparably intertwined with your life force. Naturally I must just be along for the joy ride. Baka.'**

'There's no need to be such a bastard about it.'

'**No need? You almost **_**killed **_**me!'**

"Please be quiet, both of you," Remeal sighed. She was _definitely _going to ask the boss for a raise the next time she saw him.

It took Naruto a second to realize what she said. "You mean you can hear him?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course. He's being rather loud."

"But, but, he's sealed inside me!"

'**Yeah, what the brat said!'**

"Under normal circumstances, that would be true. There are a few outside catalysts however. One, I'm your guardian angel a.k.a. your conscience. Ergo, I can get in your head. So can Kyuubi. Therefore, since he also inhabits your body, I can hear him as clearly as I can hear you. Second, the both of you are at Death's door. Since the seal which keeps you both intertwined is only good until the time of Naruto's demise, the "contract" is, for the time being, nullified."

"Say what?"

'**Definition, please.'**

"_It means_ that as long as you two are in the forest, Kyuubi isn't bound."

'**You mean I can come out?'**

"Yes."

'**Well why didn't you just say so before?'**

Naruto's abdomen began to glow. Suddenly, a streak of fire flew from his stomach to an empty space in the clearing. The column of fire quickly began to take on a humanoid shape. Shortly, there stood before the other two a tall handsome man in a long black kimono. His blazing red hair fell down his back in a neat braid. He was well muscled in a lithe sort of way. His face was quite comely: strong chin, well defined cheek bones, noble brow, smirking lips, and sparkling ruby eyes. In short, human form or not, Kyuubi was still very much a fox.

"Now," the fox said while stretching luxuriously, "that's better."

"Can we find out what's going on now?" Naruto asked wistfully.

"Might as well say it bluntly," Remeal muttered before speaking up. "You two are at this moment about three quarters dead. However, this does mean that you are both one fourth alive. The boss seems to think that you deserve a chance to change your mind. As a result, you, Naruto, are going to have forty-eight hours to decide if you want to go back. If you do, both your souls will be returned to your body and life shall continue. If your mind remains unchanged after what you see, well.."

Remeal made a quick hand gesture and a large golden skeleton key appeared in her grasp.

"Then I use this to open those shiny doors over there and death shall continue. You follow?"

"I think so.." Naruto said.

"As much as I'll ever." growled Kyuubi.

"Good. Then come along. So much to do, so little time."

The angel rose to her feet and began a quick march through the trees. The ninja and demon throw puzzled glances at each other before hurrying to catch up. After keeping up the pace for several minutes, Remeal stopped before a good sized pond. Naruto and Kyuubi came and stood on the pond's edge with her.

"This, Naruto," she said, "is where we part company for the next two days."

"Nani?" the puzzled blonde asked.

"Don't worry, if you call, I'll be there. For the most part though, it's best if you see most of this on your own."

"Wha..." Naruto started to ask.

Without warning, Remeal shoved Naruto in the chest. Naruto stumbled backward, arms flailing, but was unable to catch himself. He fell backwards into the lake, though the lake, and into a world very familiar.

-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

_Cliffy!_

_Don't kill me! ducks various objects thrown at her by angry readers_

_I just felt this was a very good place to break off._

_So... what do you think? Like so far?_

_Please let me know if I overdid it with Kyuubi. He's one of my guilty little pleasures and I have a tendency to go just a little bit overboard. Also if something is not clear enough or you have any questions, please ask! I have it set so that anyone can review. So even if you don't have an account, you can question/comment!_

_R&R please! I have muffins! wafts muffins under potential reviewers noses_

_Love and Peace!_


End file.
